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Monday, 12 June 2017

REVIEW: Mantar - "The Spell" (EP)

By: Charlie Butler

Album Type: EP

Date Released: 31/03/2017

Label: Nuclear Blast

Mantar’s strength lies in their ability to maintain
a perfect balance of dirty, underground grit and catchy stadium-bothering
rock’n’roll ambition. Opening track “Pest
Crusade” demonstrates this in style. It is a complex track composed of shifting
tempos and styles, encompassing shards of raging black metal, stop/start
riffage and blasts of no-nonsense stoner punk.The three flawless tracks that make up “The Spell” demonstrate that Mantar’s
unique brand of heaviness is growing ever more potent.

“The Spell” 10” LP//DD track
listing:

1. Pest Crusade

2. Age Of
The Vril

3. The Spell
(feat. Okoi Jones / Bölzer)

The Review:

Hamburg power duo make a welcome
return to action with new EP “The Spell”.
Following hot on the heels of last year’s excellent “Ode To The Flame” LP, this release is a short sharp reminder of the
band’s fierce doomed-out black metal mayhem.

Mantar’s strength lies in their
ability to maintain a perfect balance of dirty, underground grit and catchy
stadium-bothering rock’n’roll ambition. Opening track “Pest Crusade” demonstrates this in style. It is a complex track
composed of shifting tempos and styles, encompassing shards of raging black
metal, stop/start riffage and blasts of no-nonsense stoner punk. Somehow the
band still manage to make this sound like a fist-pumping anthem which is no mean
feat.

“Age Of The Vril” is more
straightforward affair, lumbering doom verses giving way to epic choruses that
erupt into a high-octane race to the finishing line. “The Spell” rounds things off with Mantar at their most basic, a
two-chord rock’n’roll thrash that the band milk for maximum results. They are
aided by guest vocals from Okoi Jones of Bolzer who aids an air of grandeur to the
pause for breath before one last charge into the void.

The three
flawless tracks that make up “The Spell”
demonstrate that Mantar’s unique brand of heaviness is
growing ever more potent. Hopefully they are back soon with a full length to
deliver on the tantalising promise of this release.

Band Submissions

To those bands who have recently issued their first demo or album via bandcamp and would like to be featured on our 666 Pack Review or considered for a full review or stream please contact Aaron via email including your EPK, band bio, album file or download code, including artwork.

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We will consider bands from any genre but exclusively stoner, sludge, doom, psych, post-metal, experimental, black-metal etc. (Whilst I would like to respond to every email, this is not always possible.) Thanks